John D. Rockefeller captain of industry or a robber baron?

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Transcript of John D. Rockefeller captain of industry or a robber baron?

Captain of industry or robber baron? John Davison Rockefeller How it all started. lets begin ! On July 8, 1839 a young, soon to be rich boy was born by the name of John Davison Rockefeller.

The second of six children born in Richford, New York, to William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison.

John's early life John always stood out from the crowd even from his brothers,although his father wasn't in the picture a lot.Young John was a well-behaved, serious and studious boy.

Young sixteen year old John got his first job as an assistant bookkeeper, working for a small produce commission firm called Hewitt & Tuttle.

he had a goal something that not a lot of young people would consider but he certainly did. Two great ambitions were to make $100,000 and to live 100 years.

In 1859, at the age of 20 John went into the produce commission business with a partner, Maurice B. Clark, and they raised $4,000 in capital.

From then on John's business grew steadily, making more money each year.

In 1863, they built an oil refinary called "The Flats".The refinery was directly owned by Andrews, Clark & Company, which was composed of Clark & Rockefeller.

1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman. They had four daughters and one son together.

In February 1865, John bought out the Clark brothers for $72,500 at auction and established the firm of Rockefeller & Andrews. John said, "It was the day that determined my career." business organization and new inventions In 1866, his brother William Rockefeller built another refinery in Cleveland and brought John into the partnership. In 1867, Henry M. Flagler became a partner, and the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was established. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler was the predecessor of the Standard Oil Company. The largest oil refinary in the world.

John's practices of borrowing and reinvesting profits, controlling cost and using refineries' waste, worked for him. The company owned two Cleveland refineries and a marketing subsidiary in New York. Everything was going smooth for John and his bank account was growing.

Philanthropy From his very first paycheck, john gave away ten percent of his earnings to his church. As John's wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts.

John Rockefeller seem like a genuine nice guy, he became well known in his later life for the practice of giving dimes to adults and nickels to children wherever he went. He even gave dimes as a playful gesture to wealthy men too.

In total John donated about $550 million dollars.To all kinds of things schools, charity, church, even to create new opportunities. Taking out the competition John believed that by buying competing refiners, improving the efficiency of his operations, pressing for discounts on oil shipments, undercutting his competition, making secret deals, raising investment pools, and buying rivals out,was the way to go.

In less than four months in 1872,Standard Oil had absorbed 22 of its 26 Cleveland competitors.

If any of his competitors refused to sell their refiners he told them he would run them into bankruptcy, then cheaply buy up their assets at auction. He saw himself as the industry’s savior, "an angel of mercy", absorbing the weak and making the industry as a whole stronger, more efficient, and more competitive.

young Rockefeller at the age of 18 $ The beggining of a great fortune $ Rockefeller and Rockefeller jr. taking out the competition Death Rockefeller died of arteriosclerosis on May 23, 1937, two months shy of his 98th birthday,at The Casements, his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

John may not have lived to be a hundred, but he certainly reached his goal of making $100,000. the end before I go, you tell mewhat he is; captain of industry or a robber baron? (choose wisely)